Our Stars
by Homura Bakura
Summary: Astral was not the first mysterious friend from another world that Yuma had ever made. In the depths of the twilight world of dreams, a young Yuma will befriend a being that is much more than they seem...a being that will one day figure heavily in Yuma's destiny.
1. Stars

**A stupid thing I've been writing instead of my other projects. Basically I got a plot bunny for this character and wanted to write about how they met Yuma and why it's important...you'll understand probably by the next installment of this. This character never shows up in this fashion during the series, and yet is incredibly important. Again, you'll understand. ;) Also, the choice of naming is not a coincidence. *wink wink***

* * *

><p>The air sparkled as though it were made of stardust. Instead of dust, small glimmers floated through the air, some of them a little bit larger than the others and sparkling like jewels. The ground was made of a silvery-violet sand that slid with the soft chime of bells beneath his feet. The landscape spread out all the way to the horizon, bleeding into the deep purple-black sky that was painted with swirling galaxies in deep, jewel-toned colors. Like a desert frozen in the middle of twilight beneath a completely clear sky.<p>

But although galaxies shone in glorious nebulas above, it was as though they were only painted there, rather than being made of stars. Besides those colors glowing in the sky above, there was only one white star among the darkness.

The little boy stood with his bare feet sinking into the sand, turning around in circles with a wide-eyed wonder, his mouth hanging open.

Yuma giggled with delight, reaching out with tiny fingers to try and grab a glimmer that floated near him. As though they were only made of air and dreams, his hand passed right through it. It sent a tingle through his arm, though. He shivered with a hint of delight – the feeling was akin to that of the fizz in soda.

He wandered through the vast, barren landscape. After a little while, he thought that he might prefer to have shoes, and as though by magic, they appeared on his feet. A huge smile grew across his face. Oh, perhaps this was a dream! If that was so, then what else could he do?

He crouched down on the balls of his feet and stared at a particular patch of sand. At the soft touch of his imagination, the sand swirled up into a tiny whirlwind. It spun in faster and faster circles and then – poof! Yuma beamed as he picked up the tiny golden coin. He had imagined one of his dad's Conqueror's coins, and now, here it was!

He held it up to the sky, letting it glint in the ambient light that didn't seem to really come from anywhere at all.

He stood up and dropped the coin back to the ground, smiling at it. His first coin drop! And it was someplace not even his dad would be able to go.

Yuma turned in a circle then at the barren landscape. With such a big, blank slate, what could he make? This dream could be his own private world. Oh, maybe he'd make some mountains!

_Skritch, skritch._

It was a tiny sound. And yet it sent a horrible, dreading shudder down Yuma's back. All of a sudden his mouth was dry and his heart rate increasing by the second. He could feel sweat rolling down his forehead.

_Skritch. Skritch._

The sound was coming closer. Closer. He couldn't move. Why couldn't he move? The dream was turning into a nightmare!

The thing crawled slowly around into his view. It was hard to make out, red, blurred, uncertainly shaped, but it was vaguely insect-like. It had long, thin legs like that of an ant and long abdomen dragging behind it, some kind of bulbous eyes at the top of its thin neck, considering Yuma with a blank expression.

It was right in his face now. He could feel its breath on his cheek – terror pounded through his veins. The roar of blood echoed in his ears.

"_Are you afraid..."_ he heard the hiss.

"_Are you afraid...?"_

Another one – another voice? No, more than just two!

He could see them, out of the corners of his eyes, in slightly different shapes. All of them were a blurred sort of red. Only certain characteristics were clear: a dripping trail of acidic goo, fangs covered in saliva, a scorpion's tail, hands with too-long too-thin fingers. The very landscape seemed to be blurring into a deep, dark red, like the color of blood that is just beginning to dry.

"_Are you afraid?"_

"_Are you afraid?"_

"_Are you afraid?"_

The voices chorused around him as they circled ever closer. High-pitched voices, deep, gritty ones, echoey, dead-sounding ones, they all echoed together in a horrifying whirlwind of sound as they moved closer and closer and closer –

The insect-like one reached out with a thin, mantis claw, touching it against Yuma's cheek and slowly drawing down against the skin before resting on his throat.

"_Are you afraid?"_

Yuma could only let out the tiniest squeak of horror.

And then something warm wrapped around his shoulders, something bright and shining smacked the mantis claw away, and Yuma was pulled into a tight embrace.

"No," a voice echoed above his head. "I am not afraid."

The voice was...young, Yuma thought, but older than him. Like the kids from the middle school that he watched duel in the park. It rang clearly in the barren world.

The creatures skittered back uncertainly.

"No," the voice repeated. "I am not afraid."

And then, as though made of dust, the creatures simply blew away.

Yuma did not move for a long, long moment. His rescuer didn't move either. Soft hands continued to rest on Yuma's shoulders.

After a few more beats of silence, his rescuer's hands squeezed his shoulders.

"Are you all right?"

The voice was soft now. It felt like the breeze between the trees on an uncommonly spring day. Yuma felt himself relax.

"Uh-huh."

He stepped back to see who had appeared in his dream.

The figure was twice Yuma's height, but Yuma was only about two feet tall himself. They seemed to be made entirely of fragments of light, crystalline, even. But the form was human. Their hair was a crystalline white-violet and long enough to pass the shoulders, stirring in a nonexistent breeze. Their eyes were a pale, glowing violet instead of white, and had no pupils – however, there was a warmth in them that made them seem kind and safe rather than frightening.

"What's your name?" they asked.

"I'm Yuma," Yuma said. After a pause, he added, "I'm four."

He kicked the sand with his hands behind his back, a bit sheepish.

"Thanks for scaring them away."

He stared up at the figure with something akin to awe.

"How did you do that? They just ran away."

They smiled, eyes glowing warmly.

"Nightmares can only hurt you if you're afraid of them," they said. "If they ever bother you again, simply stand tall, square your shoulders, look them right in the eyes, and say 'I am not afraid.'"

"Eh? It's that easy?"

The glowing figure nodded with a smile. Yuma stared at the ground for a moment, considering this. Then he smiled and looked back up at the figure.

"That sounds like what to-chan tells me. He says 'kattobing, Yuma! You can do it!'"

"'Kattobing'?" the figure said, trying out the word. "What does that mean?"

"It means...um...to challenge! And to keep going! And...don't give up!"

Yuma jumped in the air and punched at nothing to demonstrate, but only managed to fall on his butt. The crystalline being's hand went up to their mouth to hide a small smile.

"'Kattobing,'" they said again, as though enjoying the taste of it. "I like it..."

Yuma grinned from where he was still sitting on the ground.

"Oh!" he said suddenly, as though remembering. "Um...what's your name? And where is this place? Is this your home?"

The being blinked. It was almost as if they weren't accustomed to being asked such questions, the surprise shone so clearly in their eyes.

"My name...?" they said. "Hmmm...I have a lot of those."

"Really?" Yuma said. "Cool! Which one is your favorite?"

"Hmm...a favorite..."

They looked up into the sky, considering. Then they smiled, and looked down at Yuma.

"I think...Lua. You can call me 'Lua.'"

"Lua-kun," Yuma said, testing out the name. "I like it!"

Lua smiled.

"Thank you."

"So is this where you live?" Yuma asked, his eyes wide with wonder as he turned in a big circle. "What is this place?"

"Yes, this is my home," Lua said. "It's called...well...I don't suppose it has a name. It's only a dream, after all."

"It's really pretty!"

Lua again looked surprised.

"Really? You don't think it's...monotone? Everything is the same color...and it just goes on like this forever..."

"Uh-huh! The colors are nice! And I like the sky!"

He fell back against the sand with his arms spread out so that he could stare at the sky.

"But...I wonder where all the stars are. Are they hiding?"

Lua sat down beside Yuma, legs tucked underneath them.

"Hmmm...I suppose they must be. There used to be a lot of stars here. But then..."

Yuma turned his head, his hair dragging through the sand.

"But what?"

Lua smiled, and there was the hint of sadness in the drooping of their shoulders.

"People used to visit here a lot," they said. "I would meet hundreds and hundreds of people, all coming here in their dreams. Every person that came here, every one I knew, was a star in the sky."

Yuma sat upright.

"Where did everyone go?"

Lua lowered their head.

"People forgot how to come here."

"Eh? How do you forget?"

"People change."

Yuma stared at the violet sand, deep in thought. Lua looked back up at the empty sky.

"Sometimes, someone like you appears. Kids your age find it easier to make it here. But it hasn't happened in a long time...I was very surprised to see someone."

"Lua-kun," Yuma said, looking up. "Does that mean you've been here all alone?"

Lua ducked their head. But Yuma could see the glint of a tear at the corner of those glowing lavender eyes.

"Lua-kun! Don't cry!"

Yuma jumped to his feet, leaning forward.

"Because I'll come here every night! Because I'll be your friend, Lua-kun! Then you won't be alone anymore! Ah! And everyone I meet, I can try to teach them how to come here, so then your sky can be all full of stars again! It will be really pretty, right!"

Lua smiled without looking up into Yuma's eager face.

"Thank you, Yuma-kun," they said quietly.

"I will! I promise! You can believe me! I never break a promise! 'Specially not to a friend!"

And Lua had to laugh a little.

"Thank you," they said again, with more feeling. "Thank you, Yuma-kun. I really appreciate it."

Yuma dropped to a sitting position beside Lua, his chatter filling up the normally silent, empty place. His words rolled over each other like water down a waterfall, talking about how he was going to introduce Lua to his friends from school and all of the games he liked to play that he would teach Lua about and all the stories he would have to tell about his dad's adventures, and oh, Duel Monsters, they could play Duel Monsters.

And Lua could only smile with a growing hollowness.

Because, no matter Yuma's good intentions, they knew it was not up to the young boy whether or not he returned. Those who came here so often forgot, when they woke up, that they had ever been here at all, much less remember the path to return.

So they simply smiled, closed their eyes, and enjoyed the sound of the boy's voice, and the feel of his company, for as long as it would last.

* * *

><p>They were not expecting to hear another sound. So when after an indeterminable yet obviously very short period of time they heard the small voice calling their name through the twilit realm, they almost fell over with the shock.<p>

"Lua-kun!" Yuma's voice. "Lua-kun?"

The little boy turned in a circle at the sameness of the landscape, and could not see his friend in any direction.

"Lua-kun!" he called again, hands cupped around his mouth.

The sand swirled before him, upwards into a small whirlwind. It solidified and began to glow, and then, there was Lua.

"Lua-kun!"

Lua smiled, mouth open slightly with the surprise.

"Yuma-kun," they said. "You came back."

"I said so!" Yuma said. "Look, look, look, I brought something with me today! Ta-da!"

He held up his hands to show Lua the stack of cards.

"They're Duel Monster cards! To-chan got some for me! He said he's going to teach me how to play!"

"Duel Monsters, huh?" Lua said, looking at the cards.

A growing spark of interest and delight was blooming in their glowing eyes. They looked up at Yuma again. It could have been a trick of the light gleaming from within them, but there seemed to be a hint of tears glittering at the edges of their eyes.

"You came back," they said again.

"Uh-huh," Yuma said, with a grin. "I can come back every night, if you want!"

Lua closed their eyes for a moment. The sigh that reverberated through them was one of such utter relief that it was as though the entire world was settling down.

"Thank you," they whispered.

Far above them in the sky, the single white star shone a tiny bit brighter. And right beside it, a small, incredibly bright red star winked into life...

* * *

><p>Yuma was pouting again.<p>

"I lost again yesterday," he said, slumping into the sand crosslegged and folding his arms tightly.

Lua's lips quirked into a half smile.

"Keep trying, Yuma-kun. You get better every time, you know."

Yuma nodded, but didn't stop pouting. With a bigger smile, Lua sat down beside him, and Yuma fell back against them so that his head was leaning against Lua's chest, as he was accustomed to doing.

"But I beat my time running to school!" he said, sounding more cheerful. "I even got there before Kotori-chan!"

"Ah, good job, Yuma-kun!"

"I should bring Kotori-chan to meet you! You'd like her a lot. She's really smart. But she's nagging me a lot."

Yuma frowned at that. Lua laughed softly.

"Sometimes I think you need someone to do that for you," they teased. "How many times have you bruised your knees trying to run down the stairs again?"

"I have to kattobing!" Yuma said, waving his arms around a bit. "I have to keep doing kattobing, so that I can go with to-chan on an adventure! He said he'll take me to the mountains someday! I want to see the mountains."

Lua's laugh was soft, but not teasing, and Yuma felt himself blushing a bit. He let his arms fall to his sides and stared up at the sky.

"Lua-kun? Have you ever seen mountains before?"

"Hmm? Mountains?"

The realm around them was silent, save for the sand that shifting and twirled gently in a silvery breeze.

"Yes. I have...I think I lived among them during one of my lives..."

"What about the ocean? Or a forest?"

"Yes, I've seen those things before...in other lives. Why do you ask?"

Yuma didn't answer. He just lay there, his head back against his friend's chest.

"It's really quiet here," Yuma said. "I just thought...maybe you get bored. Or lonely. Because it's really quiet..."

Lua drew in a breath.

For a moment, it felt as though the twilight colors were suffocating. All of it, all the same colors, the same scenery, everything always the same, always empty, always cold –

They found that they were almost choking on unwept tears.

"Lua-kun?"

Yuma stared up at him, upside down in his position. Lua swallowed.

"I'm...fine."

They had to close their eyes for a moment. When they opened their eyes again, they brought out the biggest smile they could muster.

"I'm not lonely anymore, Yuma-kun. Because you're my friend."

Yuma half smiled at that, but the boy didn't look completely convinced. He wriggled up off of Lua's lap and sat crosslegged on the ground again. For a moment, they just sat there in the silence, hearing the faint breeze drag sand across the landscape into shifting dunes, watching the floating glimmers bob gently in the air.

"Can I make an ocean?" Yuma said suddenly.

"What?"

"I want to make an ocean."

Lua just stared at him for a moment. The words did not fully sink in.

"What do you mean?" they asked.

Yuma scrambled to his feet, almost slipping on the sand and falling back down again.

"I can make stuff here, see? Cause it's a dream, and you can do stuff in dreams! Look, look!"

He stared at the sand for a moment, his nose wrinkling up and his cheeks going a bit red. Lua almost snorted at the funny look, so concentrated, not at all like Yuma's normal open, always smiling face. The look didn't really suit him –

And then the sand swirled a bit, and there was a coin laying on the ground.

"See!" Yuma said, picking it up and showing it to them.

Lua's mouth nearly fell open. They stared at the coin. Slowly, slowly, the accepted the small, golden circle from Yuma. It gleamed in the palm of their hand. A lion's face growled out at them from the coin's side.

"How did you do this, Yuma-kun?" asked Lua, turning the coin over in their hand.

"Cause it's a dream! I can do things like that!"

Lua had to look up at him. Into the wide, shining crimson eyes of this boy, so full of hope and joy and cheer and happiness and friendliness –

Their breath caught in their throat. So long. It had been so long since...since someone had...been able to...

"So I want to make an ocean for you," Yuma said. "Because oceans sounds nice! Then it won't be so quiet here...and it will look pretty! But I don't want to do it without asking. Because this is your home, right?"

Lua could feel it – the familiar feeling growing in their chest for the first time in ages. It was light, soft, it felt like hot chocolate and kittens and warm spring days and all of the beautiful things that they had not gotten the chance to experience in so very, very long.

Lua closed their eyes. A single tear managed to find its way down their cheek.

"Thank you," they whispered.

"Huh?" Yuma said. "Thanks for what? I didn't do anything yet."

Lua opened their eyes. They stood up and stepped forward so that they could put their hands on Yuma's shoulders.

"Yes," they said. "I would love to see an ocean again."

Yuma's entire face lit up.

"Okay!" he said. "Just watch, I'll make a really pretty one! Oh! And then maybe I can make a forest – and some mountains – and everything will be really nice just wait!"

Another tear rolled down Lua's cheeks as they stepped back and watched Yuma hop forward to stare at the sand again. There was only silence for a while.

And then a rush of wind blasted past both figures, hot and salty and rough. A whistling sound accompanied the sudden growing dark stain that shot out from just in front of Yuma's feet. The darkness unrolled from that point all the way towards the horizon – like a carpet unfolding across the floor. For a moment, it was only a long, dark shadow. And then it deepened and turned to dark, dark shade of purple to rival the sky above.

_Sloosh...sloosh..._

The sound sent a pleasant shudder through Lua's small, crystalline frame. It was an ocean sound, the waves sloshing in and out, in and out, in and out...

It was, Lua thought, the most beautiful thing they had ever seen.

The ocean stretched out to the horizon, where it almost seemed to blend directly into the sky. It was a deep violet in color, with lavender foam at the peaks of the far out waves. Nebulas of color, mostly blue and green, swirled within the water itself, and the glimmers of the air seemed to have been mixed directly into the sea, so that there were stars in the ocean.

Yuma plopped down to his backside at the foot of the water

"I tried to make it blue," he said, actually pouting. "Sorry, Lua-kun."

"Sorry?" Lua said, incredulous.

They crouched down next to Yuma, putting their hand on his shoulder and squeezing. They were trying so hard to keep in the tears.

"It's beautiful," they said. _"Thank you."_

Yuma's smile alone would have been enough.

Just that would have been enough.

They sat at the edge of the ocean on Yuma's next visit. The boy had already tired himself out running back and forth into the foam, squealing with delight at how the water was the perfect temperature, just barely warm. He had amused himself for hours just tossing the water into the air and watching the stars and nebulas hang in the air for a few moments before they fizzled out in a spray of watery sparks. Yuma had even pulled Lua into the water and taught them a game called "Marco Polo."

The tired young boy was laying against Lua's chest again, a grin permanently plastered to his face. Lua smiled down at him, holding him in a light embrace.

"Do you like the ocean?" Yuma asked, looking up.

"I love it."

Yuma smiled, looking very, very pleased with himself.

"Can I make a forest next?"

"You look tired. We can wait until tomorrow night."

"Kay."

The ocean sloshed in and out. Quiet. Soothing. Lua had to close their eyes just to enjoy the lovely sound. How long had it been? They could remember living beside an ocean, but none had been so soothing as this one.

"Eh? There's more stars," Yuma said suddenly.

And there were – many more than the little boy remembered. There was a quartet of stars just beneath the little red one and the larger white one. A little father away was a flickering star like a faraway candle-flame, vaguely emerald in shade. And there were more, too, in different colors, scattered across the sky. As though someone had dropped a pinch of glitter.

"Did other people come and leave their stars?" he asked.

Lua shook their head.

"No, Yuma-kun. I put them up there for you."

"For me?"

"Mm-hm. Look."

They leaned their head down next to Yuma's and pointed at the sky.

"See those four? Two of those are your parents' stars, and below that, your grandma and your sister. You've told me so much about them. I think their stars should be here too."

They moved their finger across the sky.

"That one is your friend Kotori. And that one is your teacher that you always talk about."

Yuma's eyes widened as Lua pointed out each of the stars, naming another friend, acquaintance, family member that Yuma knew.

"Why did you put my friends up there?" Yuma asked.

He squirmed out of Lua's light hold and sat up to face his friend.

"You haven't met them yet, but you gave them stars in your world?"

Lua smiled, eyes glowing with a secure warmth.

"If they're your friends," they said. "Then they are my friends too."

Yuma stared up at them with his wide, crimson eyes.

"And it's not just my world anymore, Yuma-kun," Lua continued. "It's yours too."

"Huh? Really?"

"Mm-hm. Because you made this beautiful ocean. This world is for both of us, Yuma-kun. And I'm so happy that I can share it with you."

Yuma's eyes widened further. The smile that then grew across his face was so bright that it could have rivaled a sun.

"And I'm glad I got to be your friend, Lua-kun!" he said.

And with that, he jumped forward to hug the taller figure. Lua squeezed him back – the feeling of another solid body was just as soothing to them as the sound of the ocean. So long, they had been alone here, their last human life feeling so, so far away.

They weren't alone anymore.


	2. Heart

"Lua-kun? Lua-kun! Where are you?"

Yuma wandered along the edge of the ocean, looking for some sign of Lua. It was odd, usually his friend appeared much sooner. Oh no, what if something was wrong?

Off in the distance, he could hear the wind rustling through the leaves of the forest he and Lua had made a few nights before. This world was looking more and more beautiful by the night. The silvery-purple sand now slowly melded into a field of rustling grasses. Like the rest of the world, the grasses were in varying shades of violet and silver, but the flowers that bobbed in the breeze came in every color of the rainbow, including a few that Yuma had never seen before outside of this world.

The wide field, with its three-foot tall grasses and the occasional spindly tree that bent and twisted like a bonsai, eventually melded into the deep forest. Yuma had built the forest with the tallest trees he could imagine, thick, black-barked things that glimmered like obsidian, their deep purple leaves entwining into a thick canopy above that dove the woods below into a dim, light-dappled silence. It wasn't an empty wood, either. Strange creatures skittered among the fallen leaves and in and out of the brush. Geode birds would swoop among the branches, their tops a bumpy, dark rock, and their undersides a shimmering amethyst. Tiny glowing butterflies rested in trees, looking like Christmas lights. There were squirrel-like creatures the size of cats with long fox ears and huge shimmering tails, dark as night with white bellies, that would scramble up trees and squawk whenever someone walked near—those were Yuma's favorite.

And the most mysterious were the ones that Lua had made: tiny, deer-like creatures with a single branching horn, that looked like shadows outlined in starlight as they picked their silent way through the wood, their lion tails twitching. Sinuous dragons with silver claws and white eyes, that glowed with magic symbols down their snake-line frames. Yuma loved to catch a glimpse of them. He would hide in trees along the black star river for hours just waiting for one to snake its way through the trees, undulating through the air without wings like a snake swimming through the ocean.

Perhaps Lua was in the woods, then, Yuma thought, and he turned his feet away from the ocean line and towards the field. He paused a few times to chase a butterfly or stare at a new flower that he didn't remember from last time, his thoughts wandering to what he could make next—maybe he would make a mountain range, and a cabin. Lua had talked about gardens once or twice. Maybe Lua would like a garden!

He entered the canopy of trees and the sound of the ocean faded. It was pretty clear under here, not much brush. He could hear the fox-squirrels bounding away, and their irritable squawks at being interrupted. He grinned as he wandered between the trees. Maybe he should make some pathways. Oh! And the pathway could lead to a garden at the edge, and the mountains could be behind that!

He hummed a happy tune to himself, excited about what he and Lua would make next.

Then he caught the glow of his friend out of the corner of his eye, and with a big grin turned and ran towards the tree he had seen it by.

"Lua-kun —" he started as he rounded the tree.

And then he paused.

Lua leaned against the tree, eyes closed, breathing softly, steadily. They were fast asleep.

Yuma stared for a moment. He couldn't remember ever seeing Lua sleep before. He had thought, somehow, that they wouldn't need to. The crystalline being glowed gently, the light pulsing like a heartbeat across the shiny bark of the dark tree. For the first time, they looked somewhat...transparent. And Yuma could see something in their chest, glowing and spinning and coming apart, like it was made of a thousand puzzle pieces that were all sliding together and around each other, taking the vague shape of a Duel Monsters card at times. The thing was a deep, deep, _deep _blue, and shone pale around its edges, tiny dots of starlight gleaming with in it and small lights like slow-moving shooting stars swirling around it.

Yuma stared at the object, entranced by its motions. He felt as though he could stare at it forever and never grow tired—he felt as though he were staring at the edge of the answers of everything in the universe.

Lua's eyes fluttered. They opened. Their body seemed to solidify again, and Yuma could not longer see the shifting force within them.

"Oh, Yuma-kun," Lua said, smiling. "You're early."

"Sorry," Yuma said.

"Don't be."

Lua stretched and stood up. Then they seemed to notice Yuma's curious expression.

"Is something the matter?"

"You had a shiny thing in your chest."

Lua blinked. Then dawning realization came over them, mouth opening in a small O.

"Oh," they said. Their brows drew together with a bit of discomfort and worry. "That's just my heart, Yuma-kun."

Yuma's eyes widened.

"I didn't know hearts looked like that," he said in a low whisper. "It's really pretty!"

He stared down at his own chest. He poked at it tentatively.

"Do I have a heart like that?"

Lua actually laughed.

"No, Yuma-kun," they said. "Not quite."

"Aww," Yuma said, pouting. "But yours is pretty."

He stared at the ground for a moment. Then he started to bounce on his heels.

"Oh, I remembered what I was going to say! Can we make some mountains next? Can we? I really want to see mountains!"

Lua smiled, but there was a sort of surprise there, as though they hadn't expected the conversation to change so quickly and easily.

"Mountains? That's a good idea. We should definitely make some."

Yuma squealed with delight.

"We can put them right behind the forest, and oh, we should build some paths in the forest, and I was thinking we should make a garden, because you like gardens right and then I was thinking—"

And Lua just smiled, glowing softly as usual, with a level of happiness that Yuma couldn't even begin to understand if he had noticed.

* * *

><p>"All right, Yuma-kun, it's your turn."<p>

Yuma sprung from his desk like a loaded bullet. It was parent's visiting day at his school, and it was time for show-and-tell! He was so excited! He waved at his parents in the back row as he hurried to the front—and promptly tripped and landed flat on his face.

Laughter erupted among his classmates, and Kotori, in the front row, just sighed and put her head on her desk.

Yuma's face was flushed but he didn't stop smiling. He hopped up to the front of the room.

"Hi! I'm Tsukumo Yuma, and I'm seven! For show-and-tell I'm going to tell you about my friend Lua-kun!"

He fumbled with the book in his arms for a moment.

"I couldn't take any pictures of us, so I drew some instead."

"Are you talking about your magic fairy boyfriend?" someone in the back row shouted.

Yuma's smile dropped, and he glowered at the boy in question, someone he had dueled before and lost to several times and liked to brag about it.

"Lua-kun isn't a boy," Yuma said. "And Lua-kun isn't a fairy either. They live in the Dream World!"

"Yeah, like a magic fairy!"

"If he's not a boy, is he your girlfriend?" someone else called.

"Be quiet, Kenji-kun!" Yuma's teacher said. "Go on, Yuma-kun."

She smiled encouragingly, even as a short murmur ran through the crowd of parents at the back.

But Yuma caught his dad's eye, and the tall man sent Yuma a huge grin and a thumb's up. Yuma grinned back, his confidence restored.

He finally managed to flip open his notebook, where he had drawn a messy image of him and Lua by the Galaxy Ocean, as he had taken to calling it.

"This is Lua-kun!" he said. "Lua-kun lives in the Dream World—they're really, really nice and know a lot of things about everything! And they have a really magic heart that looks like a puzzle! And Lua-kun isn't a boy or a girl, so there, Kenji."

Yuma stuck out his tongue at the boy, who stuck out his tongue back.

"And this is the Galaxy Ocean," Yuma said, pointing to the scribble of dark purple. "It's really pretty! It looks like all the stars got trapped in there! That was the first thing I made in the Dream World!"

"You can't make an ocean, stupid," Kenji said.

"You can in the Dream World," Yuma said.

"Kenji-kun! Be quiet!" Yuma's teacher snapped. "Sit and listen like you're supposed to!"

Kenji glowered at Yuma and Yuma glowered back.

He fumbled with the pages of his notebook again and showed another page.

"And this is the Deep Woods and the Butterfly Meadow!" he said. "We made a Twilight Garden inside the Deep Woods too! It has a really high wall with vines growing on it and a big gate, and inside, there are lots of trees that grow all bendy and they have glowing blue fruit that tastes like anything you want it to! The garden is Lua-kun's favorite."

"That's stupid! You shoulda made a castle instead of something girly like a garden!"

"It's not girly to make a garden!" Yuma said, stamping his feet.

"Sure it is, cause it's your fairy girlfriend's favorite!"

"Lua-kun isn't a girl!"

"Kenji Sato, _be quiet!_ Yuma-kun, please focus."

Yuma face was as red as his drawing was purple, and he looked like he was ready to explode. He looked back at his parents for support, and although Akari-nee was rolling her eyes, to-chan and kaa-chan were both smiling and nodding at him.

Yuma let out a breath and flipped to the next page.

"And this is me and Lua-kun in the Butterfly Meadow. You can see the mountains in the back! We climbed up those together and I left a coin at the top to show we were there!"

His father's eyes twinkled at that, which gave Yuma the confidence to keep going.

"Lua-kun teaches me lots of stuff! They know about all the different worlds and they tell me all about them! Someday, I'm gonna go visit all of them!"

A few kids laughed at this, but Yuma was busy staring right at his parents' smiles, so he was able to finish his show-and-tell without much more interruption.

"Thank you, Yuma-kun," his teacher said kindly. "Chihiro-chan, you're next..."

Yuma hugged his sketchbook to his chest as he walked back to his seat, grinning at his family. His father was waving at him with a bit too much exaggeration, as he was often doing, and Yuma waved back.

He was so busy waving though that he didn't notice Kenji stick out his foot. With a squeak, Yuma flopped face first onto the floor.

The room erupted with laughter.

"Didn't your fairy boyfriend teach you how to walk?" said Kenji.

That was it. Yuma didn't just stand up—he _launched_ himself from the ground at Kenji. The other boy squealed as they both crashed back to the ground.

"Yuma-kun! Kenji-kun!" their teacher was shouting.

Neither boy paid attention, both of them too busy flailing their arms and pulling at each others' mouths with as much force as they could muster.

The class exploded. Kids were jumping out of their chairs and onto desks to see what was going on—shouts rang as a few kids started a "fight, fight, fight" chant. The teacher was trying to wade through the crowd of kids while Kenji's mother screamed at Yuma's mother. Kotori had leaped from her seat and tried to run back towards Yuma but was block by the ring of kids and left to simply shout uselessly into the commotion at Yuma to please stop.

"Stop making fun of Lua-kun!"

"Stop making it so easy!"

"You're stupid!"

"Your imaginary friend is stupid!"

"Lua-kun is NOT IMAGINARY!"

"Your friend is STUPID STUPID STUPID, his face is stupid, his world is stupid, his stupid magic fairy puzzle heart is stupid—"

"LUA-KUN IS NOT A HE!"

With a clomping of boots, Yuma's father parted the sea of children and grabbed both wrestling boys by the collar, forcibly yanking them apart.

"That's enough, Yuma!" he said.

Yuma, who had still been wheeling his arms and glaring, red-faced, at Kenji, visibly flinched. He slumped in his father's grip.

"I don't believe this, both of you!" the teacher was saying over and over. "Everyone, back into your seats this instant! Yuma-kun, Kenji-kun, please see me in the hall!"

Yuma simply slumped further in on himself, not daring to look up—especially not at his father.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, voice choked, as he shuffled alongside a irritable Kenji towards the hallway.

When he chanced a glance up at his father before he walked into the hall, he thought for a moment he saw a barely suppressed twinkle in his father's eyes, a grimace that was trying hard not to turn into a smile.

It was enough. Yuma felt himself perk up a little bit, and walked out into the hall to wait for a verdict.

* * *

><p>When Yuma arrived that night, he was developing a black eye and there was a bandage on his face. Lua felt themself bristle slightly.<p>

"What happened?" they asked, reaching out to touch Yuma's face tentatively, examining the injury. "Who did this?"

"It was my fault," Yuma said.

He laughed a little nervously, the gap in his teeth showing.

"I talked about you in class today! But someone kept calling you a boy or a girl, and I know you're not that, so I got mad. I shouldn't have fought. Kaa-chan and to-chan gave me a talking to."

"You...fought because of me?"

Lua felt horrified for a moment – was it their fault that Yuma was hurt?

"I just didn't want them to make fun of you!" Yuma said, jumping forward urgently. "Lots of kids say that I made you up, and that you're stupid, and that your heart is silly... But I know that's not true! You're my friend, Lua-kun! I don't want anyone to make fun of you."

"Your...friend..."

They had known that Yuma was like this, self-sacrificing and open and too honest and friendly for his own good. But in spite of everything, Lua felt a curious warmth growing in their chest. Yuma had fought because of Lua. He had gotten into a fight to defend Lua.

"You're too reckless," was all they said, ruffling Yuma's hair gently. "Now, how about starting on those special trees in the garden that you wanted to make?"

Yuma's eyes lit up enough to rival the glimmers hanging in the air.

"Yeah!"

**A/N: Hello and thank you for reading this far! Have you figured out what Lua is now? If not, here's another hint: their true identity has the initials N.C. and it is the major focus of Zexal II. :)**

**To my guest who left a review, since I can't reply directly to you on a guest review, I'll respond here. I'm a little confused as to what you mean because there is little punctuation. Are you saying that this story isn't close enough to the original show and I should make it closer? That's not really the point of fanfiction. Also, no, it's not strange for a girl to like Zexal, literally nothing should or can be gendered; plus pretty much 95% of the people I know who like YGO in general identify as female. :)**


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